From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,6511c3dc6e1155c9 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news2.google.com!proxad.net!usenet-fr.net!enst.fr!melchior!cuivre.fr.eu.org!melchior.frmug.org!not-for-mail From: Stephen Leake Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: GtkAda vs Windex, Gwindows Date: 25 Sep 2004 08:43:45 -0400 Organization: Cuivre, Argent, Or Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: lovelace.ada-france.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: melchior.cuivre.fr.eu.org 1096116241 45918 212.85.156.195 (25 Sep 2004 12:44:01 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@melchior.cuivre.fr.eu.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 12:44:01 +0000 (UTC) To: comp.lang.ada@ada-france.org Return-Path: In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3 X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new-20030616-p10 (Debian) at ada-france.org X-BeenThere: comp.lang.ada@ada-france.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.4 Precedence: list List-Id: "Gateway to the comp.lang.ada Usenet newsgroup" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:4166 Date: 2004-09-25T08:43:45-04:00 Pascal Obry writes: > Stephen Leake writes: > > > I'm considering giving up on GtkAda for Windows development, and > > Well that's not the moment to give up :) Gtk+ on Windows is maturing quickly > and the 2.4.7 version is quite better than previous ones. Note also that the > Gtk+Wimp (Native Windows look&feel) is now part of the Gtk+ project. That's all good. > Will this makes you stay on the GtkAda side ? It doesn't address my issues. The problems I'm having relate to basic issues of how signals and events are propagated. I'm not paying for GtkAda support at work any more, and I'm not getting good answers from the newsgroups/mailing lists. I _really_ don't want to have to read the C code to find out how things work, but that's what I'm stuck with. For example, I can't figure out why an EventWindow doesn't respond to a Focus event. (If you read the GtkAda mailing list, you've seen this issue). The Gtk manuals are not clear on this topic, and neither the GtkAda nor Gtk mailing lists have been much help. It's extremely frustrating. When I write Ada code at home, it's for relaxation and fun; I have a very low tolerance for frustration. The lack of a good MDI is also a major stumbling block (no, I don't like the GtkAda MDI; too buggy, and too hard to fix - I tried that when I had support). I _really_ like the auto-resizing features of Gtk, and the general container design, and the ability to use 'tab' to move between widgets. I'm sure it would take a lot of work to duplicate that in Gwindows. At the moment, I'm working on a card program. Robin's Cards (written in Visual Basic 3, for Windows 3.1, for my wife - see http://www.toadmail.com/~ada_wizard/robcards/robcard.html) finally broke on Windows XP, so I need to rewrite it (in Ada, of course). I had it partially done in Windex, so I finished it. It was remarkably easy, compared to the struggles I've had with my GtkAda projects. On the other hand, a card playing program only needs a drawing window for bitblts, and a menu system; pretty basic. I suspect when I try to do a more complex project in Gwindows, I'll pine for some GtkAda features. But at least I'll be able to understand _all_ the details of the code, if I need to. > What I like in Ada is that the very same program can be compiled and > run on different OS. So GtkAda seems very important to me! I agree in principle. And if the core of Gtk was in Ada, I'd have no problem committing to that. I suppose I should try reading the C code, maybe it's not all that bad. I'd feel better if I felt that others in the GtkAda community shared my concerns. At the same time, although I keep planning to get a Linux system to "play with", it never seems worth it; Windows works well enough for me, and I really don't have time to spend on two operating systems and two GUI systems. I hate sounding like an ad for Microsoft, but it's just the facts of life. It may be that I'll only ever be happy with code I write myself - I tend to be a perfectionist. -- -- Stephe